Elmhurst District 205 officials worry about staff departures

An exodus of a half-dozen administrators from Elmhurst Community School District 205 has officials wondering why they are losing employees and what they can do to stem the flow.

A look at the school district's website shows the district is seeking to fill the posts of assistant superintendent for human resources, assistant superintendent for student services, a principal for Sandburg Middle School, and a ELL/social studies coordinator.

It recently hired a new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction and a new principal of Field Elementary School.

School board president Jim Collins said he's concerned about administrators leaving the district, both to retire and to take jobs with other districts.

"There are more than the normal amount of jobs open," Collins said.

Collins recently wrote a letter to parents to let them know what the district is doing to try to better retain top administrators.

For the first time in its history, the district is doing exit interviews with employees who are leaving. It has hired a retired superintendent to do the interviews. It also is doing a salary survey of comparable school districts to see how pay at District 205 stacks up.

"Before we develop a plan we want to make sure we have all of our facts straight," Collins said.

Collins said in the letter that pension reform, which is currently on hold as it is hashed out in court, may be why some administrators are retiring. He said they are worried about a potential pension salary cap of about $110,000.

"This has created an urgency for some to retire before benefits are affected and increased movement between districts as administrators seek to realize career growth opportunities prior to the implementation of the cap on June 1, 2014," he wrote in the letter.

Aviva Bowen, director of communications for the Illinois Federation of Teachers, agreed the potential changes in pension laws have prompted some to decide to retire and created anxiety for many.

"I think there has been a lot of uncertainty," she said.

In addition to wondering if administrators' salaries are sufficient, Collins said he also is wondering if they are burning out because the district does not have enough administrative support staff.

"Are we asking senior administrators to do their jobs, but also the jobs of others?" he said.

If the district discovers that it is not paying administrators enough or that it does not have enough administrative help, Collins said it may need to look at increasing salaries and incur other costs.

"Are we swimming in money? No. Not by any means," he said. "We have to balance the resources to provide the highest educational benefit to the students."

He noted that staffing changes and losing top employees also costs the district money.

"You can't have world class schools without talented, stable leadership," he said.